NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA
Australians in World War II
EducAtIonAl ActIvItIEs
Educational activitiEs – noRtH aFRica and sYRia – austRalians in WoRld WaR ii
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© Commonwealth of Australia 2013
This work is copyright. Permission is given by the Commonwealth for this booklet to be copied without payment and
permission by educational institutions within Australia solely for educational purposes. All other rights are reserved.
Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without
prior written permission from the Commonwealth. Requests and enquiries concerning reproduction and rights should
be addressed to the publications section of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs:
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
GPO Box 9998 CANBERRA ACT 2601
Tel: (02) 6289 1111
Fax: (02) 6289 4849
Email: [email protected]
Published by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Canberra.
Written by Curriculum Development and Education Consulting, ACT.
Information is current at date of publication.
June 2013
P02492
INTRODuCTION
These educational activities, aligned to the Australian Curriculum: History at Year 10, are designed to encourage
students to become engaged with North Africa and Syria and the rich historical sources it incorporates. North Africa
and Syria is part of a series of books published by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs that explore theatres of war
during World War II, other than the Pacific war. Please note that the campaign in North Africa lasted from 1940-1943
when Axis forces surrendered in Tunisia. North Africa and Syria concentrates on Australia’s involvement in these
regions between 1940-1942 before their withdrawal when Japan entered the war.
OveRvIeW
This educational resource has five investigations, each one focusing on a different theme or aspect of the
campaigns.
Investigation 1:
What were the key events in the North Africa and Syria campaigns between 1940-1943?
Students examine the major events and movements during these campaigns.
Investigation 2:
What shaped the way the campaigns in North Africa and Syria were reported in the
Australian media?
Students are encouraged to consider the many factors that shape media reports from the front line. They also
analyse similarities and differences between media reports of Australian troop actions in World War II and
contemporary conflicts.
Investigation 3:
What is the relationship between people and the environment during war?
Students explore how terrain and climate influence military strategy, and how war impacts on the environment.
Investigation 4:
How do the ‘rules of war’ shape the behaviours of those involved in conflicts?
Students analyse a range of primary and secondary sources from North Africa and Syria and consider the
development and application of conventions to govern behaviour during times of war.
Investigation 5:
Why were some Australians awarded the Victoria Cross during the North Africa and Syria
campaigns?
Students consider the role of military awards in Australia and investigate the service of some of the Australians
awarded the Victoria Cross as a result of their actions during the North Africa and Syria campaigns.
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AuSTRAlIAN CuRRICulum
This classroom resource has been developed with specific reference to the content descriptions for Year 10
students in the Australian Curriculum: History, where a depth study of World War II is required. The relevant Historical
Knowledge and Understanding and Historical Skills are listed for each investigation. The learning content and
activities assist students to develop the following general capabilities: literacy, critical and creative thinking, personal
and social capability, and ethical behaviour.
Furthermore, the material can be easily adapted for use with other levels and curriculum areas, particularly English.
Year 10 History
Depth study: World War II
Historical Knowledge and
Historical sKills:
Understanding:
• Use chronological sequencing to demonstrate the relationship between
events and developments in different periods and places
• An overview of the causes
and course of World War II
• Use historical terms and concepts
• The experiences of
Australians during World
War II
• Identify and analyse the perspectives of people from the past
• The significance of World
War II to Australia’s
international relationships in
the twentieth century, with
particular reference to the
United Nations, Britain, the
USA and Asia
• Process and synthesise information from a range of sources for use as
evidence in an historical argument
• Evaluate the reliability and usefulness of primary and secondary sources
• Identify and analyse different historical interpretations (including their own)
• Develop texts, particularly descriptions and discussions that use evidence
from a range of sources that are referenced
• Select and use a range of communication forms (oral, graphic, written) and
digital technologies
• Identify and locate relevant sources, using ICT and other methods
• Identify the origin, purpose and context of primary and secondary sources
Usin
The North Africa and Syria publication is available online allowing students easy access. With each activity being
discrete in nature, teachers using this learning resource are encouraged to adapt them to suit their own purposes.
All images and written sources used in these activities are from North Africa and Syria. When quotations are used
the relevant page from the online version of the book is indicated. Each image can also be viewed in the online photo
gallery, allowing students to view large digital versions. Further historical information about these images can be
found by accessing the collection search on the Australian War Memorial website and inserting the image number
provided.
DISClAImeR
This resource encourages students to explore and interpret a range of historical sources. The Department of
Veterans’ Affairs cannot be assumed to agree with or endorse any content or opinions expressed in websites or
other publications quoted or referred to in this resource.
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Educational activitiEs – noRtH aFRica and sYRia – austRalians in WoRld WaR ii
Investigation 1:
What were the key events in the North Africa and Syria campaigns between 1940-1943?
A. SOme WORDS TO WATCH
The following terms are used in North Africa and Syria. Select the word from the list that best matches each of the
definitions and complete the table by writing the word beside its definition.
Corps
BattalIon
Free FrenCH
VICHY FrenCH
allIeD ForCes
BrIgaDe
Counter attaCk
CasualtIes
DIVIsIon
axIs ForCes
salIent
terM
DeFInItIon
the coalition of forces in World War II who were opposed to Germany — which included the
United Kingdom and countries of the British Commonwealth, Poland, the Soviet Union and USA
the countries that fought against the Allied forces in World War II — which included
Germany, Italy and Japan
a unit consisting of several brigades and regiments, commanded by a Major General
troops who are wounded, killed or missing in action
smaller infantry units that are attached to a brigade
a military response to an act of aggression
military units who joined the French resistance movement to fight against the Axis powers
(including the Vichy French)
a military unit attached to a division that consists of two or more battalions
French forces that collaborated with the Axis powers during World War II
vulnerable battlefield area surrounded on three sides by territory held by the enemy
a military unit usually consisting of two or more divisions and their support
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B. TImelINe OF mAjOR eveNTS FROm NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA IN WORlD WAR II
Dates
3 September 1939
9 January 1940
10 June 1940
19 July 1940
Australia joins Britain and France in declaring war on
Germany
First contingent of Australian troops leaves Australia for
the Middle East where they are stationed in reserve near
Bardia from October 1940
Italy declares war on Britain (and the Allies)
Royal Australian Navy’s HMAS Sydney involved in the
sinking of the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni during the
Battle of Cape Spada in the Mediterranean
13 September 1940
Italian forces invade egypt
8–9 December 1940
Italian forces expelled from Egypt by Allied forces
3 January 1941
First major attack by an Australian division in World War II
at Bardia in Libya
21 January 1941
Allied forces capture tobruk and advance west towards
Benghazi
4 April 1941
German forces enter Benghazi and Australians withdraw
towards Tobruk
13 April–10 December 1941
Siege of Tobruk: allied troops hold the strategic city under
sustained attack
April—June 1941
Allied troops defeat a pro-German revolt in Iraq
April—May 1941
Australian troops involved in the Allied campaign in greece
and Crete
7 June—11 July 1941
February 1942
23 October 1942
3–4 November 1942
13 May 1943
PAGE 4
eVents
Australian troops support the Allied offensive in syria
against Vichy French troops
6th and 7th Australian divisions redeployed from the
Middle East to Netherlands East Indies following Japan’s
entry into the war
Beginning of the Battle of el alamein, the major operation
in a prolonged Allied offensive that was the turning point of
the war in North Africa
Axis troops retreat from El Alamein
Surrender of Axis troops in North Africa
C. mAppINg THe CAmpAIgNS
Use the maps provided to locate and highlight each of the places that are bolded in the timeline provided.
GREECE
Rome
Taranto
Athens
Bizerta
Gibraltar
MALTA
TUNISIA
CRETE
SYRIA
Beirut Palmyra
MEDITERRANEAN SEA
Tripoli
Benghazi
Tripolitania
Tobruk
Alexandria
IRAQ
Lake
Baghdad
Habbaniya
Cairo
L IB YA
Nile
E GY P T
d
Riv
er
Re
Se
a
FR E N C H
WES T A FR IC A
Dakar
Tug Argan Gap
ABYSSINIA
BRITISH
SOMALILAND
Derna
Barce
MEDITERRANEAN
Benghazi
Mechili
Er Regima
Soluch
Gulf of
Sirte
Cyrenaica
N
Tobruk
El Adem
Beda Fomm
El Duda
Sidi Rezegh
Bardia
Halfaya Pass
Sidi Barrani
Mersa Matruh
Sidi Saleh
Agedabia
LIBYA
El Alamein
E GY P T
Marsa Brega
El Agheila
SEA
200 kilometres
0
0
Qattara Depression
100 miles
PAGE 5
Otra
nto
Tyre
Jebel
Mazar
Damascus
Mezze
Merdjayoun
SYRIA
Kuneitra
Aegean
Sea
TURKEY
Sea of
Galilee
Haifa
Ionian
Sea
R
Jezzine
Litani
GREECE
Rayak
BA
Sidon
it of
ITALY
LE
Damour R
Stra
Taranto
N
Beirut
Damour
NO
C
Athens
R
Deraa
Tel Aviv
DODECANESE
Cape Matapan
N
Jordan
PALESTINE
RHODES
Cape Spada
Jerusalem
Julis
CRETE
TRANSJORDAN
40 kilometres
0
0
Dead Sea
20 miles
CYPRUS
MEDITERRANEAN
SEA
C
Beirut
Damascus
Derna
Benghazi
Er Regima
Mechili
Haifa
A
Tobruk
Bardia
Tel Aviv
Mersa
Matruh
Qattara
Depression
Suez
Ismailia Canal
Cairo
Giarabub
LI BYA
B
Dead Sea
Port Said
Nile
Delta
EGYPT
River Nile
El Agheila
Alexandria
El Alamein
Agedabia
Jerusalem
Sidi Barrani
Suez
B
A
4 kilometres
0
0
2 miles
Tel el Eisa
Mit
Tobruk
Fort Pilastrino
PAGE 6
Fort Solaro
eiriy
El Alamein
aR
idg
e
Ruweisat
Ridge
lfa
m
Ala
a
el H
ge
Rid
Use the maps with the scales on page 5 and 6 to estimate the distances between three different sites where
Australian troops saw action in North Africa between January 1940 and November 1942.
1 ........................................... and ................................... = ....................................... km
2 ........................................... and .................................... = ....................................... km
3 ........................................... and .................................... = ....................................... km
When you look at North Africa and the Mediterranean from a global perspective, why do you think that these areas
were strategically important to the Allied forces? Share your response with another student.
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INveSTIgATION 2:
What shaped the way the campaigns in North Africa and Syria were reported in
the Australian media?
A. RepORTINg IN TImeS OF WAR
1. Read the following extract from page 1 of North Africa and Syria:
On 7 January The Canberra Times announced Bardia as a ‘Bloodless Victory’. Bardia may well have been
a victory, but it was not bloodless, as the killed in action notices which also began to appear in the papers
testified. Private Harold Pagram’s family published a simple tribute in the 20 January edition of The Argus:
‘killed Bardia January 3 loved brother Albert and brother-in-law Mollie, loving uncle Bob and Albie.’ The Pagram
family would not have agreed it was a ‘bloodless victory’.
Why do you think that The Canberra Times described the action in Bardia as a ‘Bloodless Victory’?
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2. Access TROVE http://trove.nla.gov.au/ and use your research skills to select a report from an Australian
newspaper about Allied action in North Africa and Syria between 1940–1943.
• What newspaper is your report from?
• What date was the report published?
• Who was the intended audience?
• What is the main message of the report?
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What type of information is reported from the war front?
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What details may not be included in war reports? Why?
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List three factors that might influence the way that a war is reported by the media?
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B. NeWS FROm THe FRONT
1. Imagine that you are a war correspondent for an Australian newspaper during World War II. The readers of your
newspaper are concerned about their loved ones serving overseas and anxious about the threat posed to the British
Empire by the Axis powers.
Select one of the following incidents described in North Africa and Syria and read the text online:
• Capture of Tobruk, North Africa and Syria pages 6-7
• The Benghazi handicap, North Africa and Syria page 10
• The Syrian campaign, North Africa and Syria pages 16-19
• The end of the siege, North Africa and Syria pages 24-25
• Battle of El Alamein, North Africa and Syria pages 29-30
Use the description in the text to prepare an article for your Australian newspaper reporting on the incident you
selected. Your article should include:
• a headline;
• a half page written report; and
• an image and caption from North Africa and Syria.
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2. Write a headline from the Axis perspective about the same incident/s featured in your Australian newspaper report.
3. Respond to the following questions:
How did you decide what to include in your report?
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How did the headline for the Axis newspaper differ from the headline for your Australian newspaper? Why?
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How reliable do you think that media reports are as historical sources?
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C. THeN AND NOW
Find a contemporary media report about Australia’s involvement in the conflict in the Middle East (Iraq and
Afghanistan). Use this to compare and contrast Australia’s involvement in the Middle East during World War II and at
the present time.
1. Identify the similarities and differences. For example, the reason/s Australia decided to send troops to the region
and the role and experiences of the troops.
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2. In what ways are the modes of contemporary reporting of conflict in the Middle East similar to, and different from,
newspaper reports from World War II? Why?
Similar to:
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Different from:
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INveSTIgATION 3:
What is the relationship between people and the environment during war?
A. A DeFININg eNvIRONmeNT
Every war is shaped by the environment in which it is fought. Look carefully at each of the following images. Analyse
them to identify how the environment in North Africa and Syria shaped the experiences of the Australian troops.
Complete the table on page 18 to record your findings.
SOuRCe 1: ImAge
PAGE 14
SOuRCe 2: ImAge
SOuRCe 3: ImAge
PAGE 15
SOuRCe 4: ImAge
SOuRCe 5: ImAge
PAGE 16
SOuRCe 6: ImAge
SOuRCe 7: ImAge
PAGE 17
WHat I see:
describe exactly what you can see in the image
sourCe 1
sourCe 2
sourCe 3
sourCe 4
sourCe 5
sourCe 6
sourCe 7
PAGE 18
WHat I tHInk:
describe what you can imply from the image
about how the environment shaped the
experience of Australian troops
B. DIORAmA OF WAR
What were the physical conditions which shaped the Battle of Bardia? Read the text below from page 4 of North
Africa and Syria and look at the accompanying image of Bardia. Then create a diorama, or 3D model, that depicts
the setting and action that the Australian troops experienced when attacking Bardia against Italian troops:
Bardia, a harbour town about 25 kilometres west of the Egyptian frontier, was defended by a 30-kilometre
arc of concrete underground bunkers behind an anti-tank ditch and barbed-wire barriers. This was supported
by machine-gun posts and other obstacles, with the rear posts some 400 meters behind the main line…
The plan of attack called for the 16th Brigade (2/1st, 2/2nd and 2/3rd Battalions) to cross the anti-tank ditch,
blow gaps in the wire and take the posts west of Bardia…
On 3 January the assault began, with the Australians dressed in greatcoats and leather jackets to keep
out the intense cold of the desert at early morning, and heavily laden with weapons, tools, ammunition and
rations. The guns opened fire at 5.30 am and within thirty minutes the infantry had crossed the anti-tank
ditch and had breached the wire obstacles. Bill Travers described the opening scene:
First one gun flashed and the shells screamed over us to land about half a mile in front. Then millions of
shells screamed over us and the sky became red with flashes and streaks.*
Some Italian posts and bunkers fought with determination, while others offered little resistance. The 2/3rd
Battalion withstood a counter-attack from Italian tanks.
*Peter Rees, Desert Boys, p. 364
Allied bombs fall amongst shipping anchored at Bardia’s port during a raid in January 1941.
(AWM 004869)
PAGE 19
C. eNvIRONmeNTAl ImpACT
In what ways do you think the conflict in North Africa and Syria impacted on the environment?
Look at the following five sources and discuss the questions on page 23.
SOuRCe 1: ImAge AND CApTION FROm NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA, pAge 127
An army boot maker sits upon a pile of footwear worn out after the siege in Tobruk, September 1941. (AWM 020729)
PAGE 20
SOuRCe 2: ImAge AND CApTION FROm NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA, pAge 54
Men of the 2/11th Battalion admire the results of a direct hit on an Italian anti-aircraft gun at Tobruk. (AWM 005612;
photographer James ‘Frank’ Hurley)
SOuRCe 3: ImAge AND CApTION FROm NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA, pAge 87
Once a pleasant seaside locale favoured by Italian officers, by May 1941 when this photograph was taken, the beach at
Tobruk was covered with the wreckage and detritus of war and it was the Australians who now occupied the area.
Here three members of the 9th Division pose on the litter-strewn sand. (AWM 007473)
PAGE 21
SOuRCe 4: ImAge AND CApTION FROm NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA, pAge 147
In the aftermath of battle an Australian begins salvaging some of the thousands of empty shell cases fired by the
2/2nd Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, during fighting around El Alamein in July 1942. (AWM 024585)
SOuRCe 5: ImAge AND CApTION FROm NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA, pAge 152
Specially fitted Scorpion tanks work their way through a minefield at El Alamein in October 1942. Mines littered the
battlefield in 1942 and many lurk beneath the desert sand to the present day. Every year people, mostly local Bedouin,
are killed or injured by these remnants of a battle fought seventy years ago. (AWM 128999)
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1. What do these images tell you about the impact that the 1940-1943 campaigns in North Africa and the Middle
East had on the environment?
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2. Do you think the current conflicts in the Middle East continue to cause environmental damage? Why or why not?
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3. Who should take responsibility for protecting the environment from the impact of war?
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INveSTIgATION 4:
How do the ‘rules of war’ shape the behaviours of those involved in conflicts?
A. RuleS OF WAR
For thousands of years individuals and nations have debated what behaviours are acceptable during times of war.
Today there are a variety of international understandings and conventions to guide nations regarding the rules of war,
including the Geneva Convention. Analyse each of the nine sources and answer the questions to explore how the
rules of war influenced these events in North Africa and Syria.
SOuRCe 1: TexT FROm NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA, pAgeS 4-5
Captain David Green, commanding B Company, 2/7th Battalion, and his second in command, Lieutenant Charles
Macfarlane, were watching some Italians with their hands raised emerge from a post when a lone Italian put a rifle
to his shoulder and shot Green through the chest. The Italian then dropped his rifle, put up his hands and climbed
out of the post, smiling broadly. An angry Australian threw him back into the post and emptied his Bren gun into him.
At the same time others demanded of Macfarlane that they should be allowed to bayonet all the other prisoners, but
Macfarlane, now the only officer in the company, forbade them to take revenge, and was obeyed.
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SOuRCeS 2 AND 3: TexT FROm NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA, pAge 24 AND TRuCe AT TOBRuk
BY jOHN STuART DOWIe, 1943
On 2 August, in what effectively was the last major action involving Australians during the siege, another effort
was made by the defenders to expel the Germans and straighten the line. It was a costly attack: two thirds of the
attacking infantry became casualties, with twenty-nine killed and seventy-two wounded. The Geneva Convention was
seldom dishonoured in the desert war, and next morning the vehicles of Sergeant Walter Tuit and stretcher bearers
of the 2/43rd Battalion were allowed within 200 metres of the German positions. The Germans returned to the
Australians four of the five wounded and fifteen of the twenty-eight dead who were recovered.
(AWM ART26654; oil on canvas, 77.2 x 103 cm)
SOuRCe 4: DONAlD pIeRCe ReCAllS, IN THe AuSTRAlIANS AT WAR FIlm ARCHIve, THe lOgISTICS OF
mANAgINg SO mANY pRISONeRS AFTeR THe CApTuRe OF BARDIA IN jANuARY 1941
But you just imagine having thirty-six thousand blokes there and the rest of ‘em are all Aussie diggers. Now they’ve
gotta be fed, they’ve gotta have sufficient covering that they’re not gonna freeze to death and they’ve gotta have
latrines dug and fixed up for them. All these things, and there’s nobody else except the poor bloody infantry to do
that.
PAGE 25
SOuRCe 5: ImAge AND CApTION FROm NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA, pAge 47
An Australian private tends a wounded Italian prisoner during the fight for Bardia, 3 January 1941. (AWM 004914)
SOuRCe 6: ImAge AND CApTION FROm NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA, pAge 98
Crew members of the Italian submarine Uebi Scebeli stand on their submarine, awaiting rescue. Five destroyers HMAS Voyager and HMS Dainty, Decoy, Defender and Ilex - were 160 miles (257km) east of Crete when the
submarine was sighted. The submarine dived and was attacked with depth charges by HMAS Voyager, HMS Ilex and
Defender and was forced to surface. After survivors were rescued, the submarine was sunk by gun fire from HMS
Dainty. (AWM P01915.011; photographer Henry Charles Bryce Porter)
PAGE 26
SOuRCe 7: ImAge AND CApTION FROm NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA, pAge 61
Members of Benghazi’s civilian population welcome Australians of the 6th Division in February 1941.
Happy perhaps at having been liberated, these people were nevertheless civilians in a town that was heavily
looted by the Australians, as had been the case at Derna and Bardia in previous months. (AWM 005848/28;
photographer James ‘Frank’ Hurley)
SOuRCe 8: ImAge AND CApTION FROm NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA, pAge 129
The injured crew of a No. 3 Squadron RAAF air ambulance is treated with first aid after the aircraft was shot
down by German planes in Libya, November 1941. Article 36 of the Geneva Convention guaranteed’ immunity
for medical aircraft, providing they displayed the red cross symbol and national insignia, were used in a limited
geographical area and were not used to transport troops or supplies. Despite this protection, crew of the air
ambulance unit were not always protected from enemy fire. (AWM 021891)
PAGE 27
SOuRCe 9: ImAge AND CApTION FROm NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA, pAge 153
A wounded man receives treatment at an underground operating theatre at El Alamein. Sometimes refuges such as this one became sites
of international cooperation, where medical personnel from both sides tended each other’s wounded under the flag of the Red Cross.
(AWM 014076)
1. List some of the rules or conventions regarding behaviour during war that are highlighted by the sources.
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2. With reference to the sources, identify factors or situations that may lead to the rules of war not being followed.
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3. Why do countries, including Australia, become signatories to international treaties regarding conflicts, including
the Geneva Convention?
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4. Why might it be difficult to enforce the rules of war and punish those who disregard them?
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5. Conduct your own research to find out more about the Geneva Convention.
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INveSTIgATION 5:
Why were some Australians awarded the victoria Cross during the North Africa and Syria
campaigns?
A. HONOuR BOARD
The Victoria Cross is Australia’s highest military award. During World War II, twenty Victoria Cross medals were
awarded and a number of these related to action in North Africa and Syria. Read the following five sources from
North Africa and Syria which detail the events leading to the awarding of five Victoria Cross medals.
SOuRCe 1: TexT FROm NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA, pAge 11
On 13 April, the Germans decided to attack the sector held by the 2/17th Battalion. At 11 pm about thirty
infantrymen with two small field guns, a mortar and eight machine guns dug themselves in about 100 meters to the
east of the post, nearest to where a gap in the anti-tank ditch was to be blown. The Germans brought their weapons
to bear on the Australian post, which returned fire. The post commander, Lieutenant Frederick Mackell, then led
Corporal Jack Edmondson and five other men into position to assault the enemy from the flank. Yelling and throwing
grenades, the Australians charged the enemy, who turned their weapons on the party and opened fire. Edmondson
was seriously wounded in the stomach by a burst from a machine gun that also hit him in the neck. Still he ran
on under heavy fire and killed one enemy soldier with his bayonet. When Mackell had his bayonet in one of the
enemy, who grasped him about the legs, and was then attacked from behind, Edmondson, in spite of his wounds,
immediately responded to the call for help and killed both Germans, saving Mackell’s life. Edmondson died of his
wounds the next day and was awarded the Victoria Cross, the first received by an Australian in World War II.
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SOuRCe 2: TexT FROm NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA, pAge 18
It was at Merdjayoun on 19 June that Captain Charles Clark, Lieutenant Roden Cutler and an artillery team of the
2/5th Field Regiment and the 2/25th Battalion were attacked by Vichy French tanks. Both Cutler and Lance Corporal
Victor Pratt opened fire on the tracks of the tanks, forcing them to seek shelter. Cutler and Pratt exchanged their
anti-tank rifles for a rifle and Bren gun, and fired on the following Vichy French infantry, who took cover behind
a stone wall. The tanks advanced again and opened fire, killing Pratt, mortally wounding Clark and wounding
an artilleryman. Cutler hit the tank tracks with an anti-tank rifle, forcing the Vichy French to withdraw. He then
personally supervised the evacuation of the wounded members of his party. Undaunted, and with a small party of
volunteers, he pressed on to establish an outpost from which he could register the only road by which the enemy
transport could enter the town. He carried out this task, and engaged enemy posts until cut off and forced to go
to ground until after dark, when he succeeded in making his way through the enemy lines. Four days later at
Merdjayoun, and again on 6 July at Damour, Cutler distinguished himself. He was awarded the Victoria Cross, the
only Australian artilleryman so honoured.
SOuRCe 3: TexT FROm NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA, pAge 19
The campaign was nearly over, but the central sector would see the last fierce fight on 10 July. That night Lieutenant
Norman Stable’s company of the 2/31st Battalion, now reduced to sixty men, was ordered [to] take the high ground
north of Jezzine. Intense machine-gun fire from a fortified Vichy French position killed three and wounded two
Australians, holding up the advance and making movement impossible. Private James Gordon, on his own initiative,
crept forward over an area swept by machine-gun and grenade fire and succeeded in approaching close to the post,
which he then charged from the front, killing the four machine-gunners with the bayonet. For his actions, which
completely demoralised the enemy, allowing his company to advance and seize their objective, Gordon was awarded
the Victoria Cross.
SOuRCe 4: TexT FROm NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA, pAge 26
On 22 July, at Tel El Eisa, Private Arthur Gurney’s company of the 2/48th Battalion was held up by intense machinegun fire from posts less than 100 metres ahead, which inflicted heavy casualties, including all the officers being
killed or wounded. Gurney, grasping the seriousness of the situation, charged the nearest enemy machine-gun post,
bayoneted three men and silenced the post. He continued on to a second post, bayoneted two men and sent out a
third as a prisoner. Gurney was then knocked to the ground by a grenade but rose, picked up his rifle and charged a
third post with fixed bayonet. He then disappeared from view and his body was later found in an enemy post. He was
posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
SOuRCe 5: TexT FROm NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA, pAge 31
On the night of 25–26 October, the 9th Division made the first of three attacks that would create the conditions
for victory at El Alamein. The attack opened at midnight with an artillery barrage. It was made by the 26th Brigade,
with the 2/48th Battalion attacking towards Trig 29, a slightly raised feature on an otherwise flat plain, and the
2/24th attacking on the right. Advancing with the 2/48th was Private Percival Gratwick, who charged an enemy post
with a rifle in one hand and a grenade in the other. He threw the grenade into an enemy post and then attacked
the survivors with his rifle and bayonet, killing them all, including a complete mortar crew. He was then killed by
machine-gun fire as he charged a second post, and was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
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Use this information to create a Victoria Cross honour board on the following worksheet. To complete the worksheet:
1. Research the Victoria Cross and use this information to complete the section called ‘About the Victoria Cross’.
You may like to begin your research at: http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/awards/medals/victoria_cross.
cfm and http://www.defence.gov.au/special_events/information.htm.
2. Use sources 1-5 to write a caption to display next to the images of five Victoria Cross recipients. In the caption
include information about the values and personal qualities that you think these soldiers displayed.
about the Victoria Cross
Corporal John ‘Jack’ edmondson
lieutenant arthur roden Cutler
private James Heather gordon
private arthur gurney
private percy gratwick
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B. HONOuRINg THe BRAve
Look at the images in sources 1 and 2 and reflect on them as you answer the questions.
SOuRCe 1: ImAge AND CApTION FROm NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA, pAge 161
One of Australia’s most esteemed Second World War soldiers, Roden Cutler VC, who lost a leg after being wounded in Syria,
speaks from the Melbourne Town Hall steps during a 1943 Australian Women’s Army Service recruiting rally. (AWM 137752)
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SOuRCe 2: ImAge AND CApTION FROm NORTH AFRICA AND SYRIA, pAge 167
Five Victoria Cross recipients visit the grave of Jack Edmondson VC, the first Australian to be awarded the Victoria Cross in World War II.
The men in this photograph – Frank Partridge, Ted Kenna, JD Hinton (a New Zealander), Richard Kelliher and Reg Rattey, were part of the
Australian and New Zealand coronation contingent bound for England in April 1953. (AWM P01895.001)
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1. Why does Australia award the Victoria Cross?
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2. Do you think there are any negative consequences of having military awards?
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3. What are some of the benefits of having military awards, including the Victoria Cross?
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